Instagram Algorithm – Keep Calm & Carry On (For Now)

Would you believe we miss almost 70% of our Instagram newsfeed? That’s what the guys over at Instagram announced back on the 15th of March this year. As a result, it’s becoming harder for us to keep up with everything, and often, we miss posts that are important to us which Instagram is looking to change.

Like the rest of us, you might have woken up over the Easter weekend to lots of panic infused ‘turn on my notifications’ Instagram posts from many brands and celebrities you follow. We’re here to give you the lowdown and reassure you to keep calm and carry on as normal (well at least for now).

Proposed algorithm change

To ensure we see the photos and videos of those we care about most (friends, family and our favourite brands), Instagram proposed a change to it’s algorithm (out of chronological order) - ultimately to make the experience better for us users. Facebook has a similar algorithm offering the most recent posts, Twitter recently released the ‘while you were away’ feature bringing you content they think you will want to see most and as such, Instagram has jumped on the wagon. But this hasn’t gone down well with users at all with some stating it detracts from the main use of Instagram - for instant photos.

Naturally, this announcement has spread across the site’s users and across other social channels sparking insecurity amongst ‘influencers’ on the site that they may soon lose visibility and interaction on their posts leading to a frenzy of ‘turn on my notification’ posts to ensure no selfie goes unnoticed. As of this afternoon, there has been 35,000+ posts containing the #turnonnotifications hashtag and 72,000+ posts for #turnonpostnotifications - everyone has gone into overdrive over this proposed change. But are the accounts which posted ‘turn of my notifications’ in fear of being drowned out by the like of paid advertisers. We think so.

What Insta says now

Instagram has one message for users: ‘Be cool’.

Despite the widespread panic around the world that Instagram would be changing today, the official Instagram account released the above announcement yesterday to put everyone’s minds at rest. Yes, the algorithm is being tested only with a small, single-digit group of users with Instagram announcing they will be sure to keep all it’s users updated broadly.

One thing is for sure, I would only turn on notifications for a small handful of users that I really wanted to keep an eye on. You certainly don’t want your phone buzzing every time someone adds a new post (save your battery life people).

Despite what those images may have led you to believe, there is no need to panic or take action just yet. There are still months of testing to go into it and there has been speculation this feature may be something you can switch on and off as you please but we’ll keep you up to date as we hear more.